Gold market: Is manipulation alive and well?

If one looks at a longer term chart of the last two years it’s very clear that gold is being capped at certain levels, and those levels are slowly forcing gold lower and lower. Each one of these manipulation zones are being defended successfully and that has some serious connotations going forward.

This all started right after the announcement of QE3. Gold was driven below $1700 and held below that level for 2 months. This got the ball rolling so to speak, it broke an intermediate cycle and started the bear market. Of course we all remember the call by GS to sell gold short followed by the premarket attack on April 12 that took out the stops below $1520 leading to a waterfall decline. That had to be one of the most blatant cases of manipulation in market history.

Without a doubt gold completed a final ICL (intermediate cycle low) on Apr. 16. The May retest was the beginning of what should have been a recovery from the manipulation and a resumption of the secular trend.

But then something happened. As gold tried to rise above $1400 we saw repeated attacks to keep gold below that level eventually leading to another waterfall decline in June down to $1179. In the process this created a 33 week intermediate cycle - a full 10 weeks longer than normal.

The natural ICL occurred on week 23 at the April bottom. The manipulation to prevent a new intermediate rally above $1400 added a full 10 weeks to the cycle.

About the Author

Toby Connor's website GoldScents is a financial blog focused on the analysis of the stock market and the secular gold bull market. If you would like to be added to the email list that receives notice of new posts toGoldScents, or have questions,email Toby.